


Tarnishing a Thousand Truths

by katling



Category: Iron Man (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Canon divergence from way back, Gen, Mentions of other characters - Freeform, Not Peggy Friendly, Rhodey is the best bro, Team Tony, Tony finds out the truth
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-11
Updated: 2019-06-11
Packaged: 2020-04-24 11:18:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,614
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19172206
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/katling/pseuds/katling
Summary: Tony was meant to be handled, to be distracted, to never find out the truth. Nobody told James Rhodes that though and he's  always been the one person Tony will accept pointing out the fallacies in his arguments. And because of that, a truth that was meant to be buried will be discovered.





	Tarnishing a Thousand Truths

**Author's Note:**

> I've been hanging on to this for a while now because I wasn't sure if this was going to be a one shot or if I was going somewhere with it. So, I think I can safely say this is a one shot for now but if I ever get the motivation to write more in the verse, well, you might get more. :D It would just take a lot of thinking on my part about just how differently things would be in this verse.
> 
> Also, I don't buy the idea that Tony would ever think that the car accident was caused by Howard drinking if it was just the scenario we see in CACW. Howard sure didn't look like he'd been drinking nor was he acting that way. But if there had been a meeting he was going to first then to the airport, yeah, I could see Tony buying the idea then. That's just where I started with this fic and the rest just flowed from there.
> 
> Mind you, the whole Winter Soldier killing Howard and Maria really wasn't a good idea from the Russos when you really think about it. It paints so many people in such a bad light and prompts some very nasty questions - like how big was the cover up and how many people died to make sure the cover up stuck? Like all the first responders. As someone who works for an emergency service, trust me, they know what kind of injuries people get in car accidents and neither Howard nor Maria had the right kind of injuries. Howard's facial injuries were too severe to be explained by a simple car accident and... well... let's put it this way, strangulation is not a common injury in a car accident. 
> 
> Anyway, I'm digressing. On with the fic!

Tony grimaced and whined a little when a familiar hand intercepted the bottle of whiskey and took it from him. He looked up owlishly into Rhodey’s face but his best friend said nothing, just took a long drink from the bottle and settled down next to Tony where he was slumped on the floor in front of the sofa. Tony hadn’t even removed the suit he’d worn to the meeting with the Stark Industries board today, just tossed the jacket over the back of the sofa and flung the tie as far away as he possibly could. He wasn’t sure how the hell he was going to get through the funeral two days from now.

“She’s gone,” he said, his voice more blurred with grief and tears than alcohol.

“Yeah, I know, Tones,” Rhodey said, his voice heavy and he let his shoulder come to rest against his. “I’m sorry.”

He almost didn’t say anything and perhaps if he’d had a bit more to drink – or a bit less – he might have swallowed the words or let them drown in alcohol.

“It’s my fault.”

Rhodey gave a start and shifted to look at him, a frown growing on his face. “What? Tones, what are you talking about?”

“I argued with Dad.” Tony gritted his teeth. “Again. They were going to a meeting then going on to the airport from there. Obie says he was drinking a lot at the meeting.” He let his head hang. “He always drinks more after he’s argued with me.”

“Tony, that doesn’t make it your fault. If he knew he was going to be driving and he was drinking heavily, that’s on him. Not you.”

Rhodey wrapped a warm, comforting arm around his shoulders and Tony couldn’t help but lean into him and bury his face in his shoulder. He wanted to believe Rhodey but… he couldn’t quite manage it.

“Besides…” Rhodey hesitated and Tony raised his head.

“What?”

“I overheard a conversation between some of your Dad’s friends when I was looking for you,” Rhodey said. “They were talking about that meeting. They didn’t make it sound like he was drunk or even that he’d been drinking at all.” He paused again for a moment. “What did the autopsy report say?”

“They sent me a copy but I haven’t read it,” Tony said with a shake of his head. “But Obie has.”

“Maybe we should have a look?” Rhodey said.

Tony considered that then he shrugged. “’Kay.”

He let Rhodey haul him to his feet and support him as his head whirled. They made their way to Howard’s study and Tony waved with a careless hand to a buff-coloured envelope on the desk.

“That’s it.”

He collapsed into one of the chairs and stared down at his feet as Rhodey picked up the envelope and pulled out the report.

“Uh, Tones,” Rhodey said after a couple of minutes.

“What?”

“This report says your Dad had been drinking but not all that much.”

Tony looked up and frowned. “What?”

Rhodey handed over the report and Tony read it through quickly. He saw the blood alcohol content but it was other things in the report that tweaked his mind.

“Where’s…?” He frowned and read the report through again a bit slower. “Is there another page with the rest of the things they found on them?”

“No, that’s everything,” Rhodey replied. “What’s wrong?”

“There’s no mention of Mom’s necklace,” Tony replied, his frown deepening. “It’s gold with a single sapphire. It was her favourite. Mom was wearing it when she left.”

“The paramedics probably took it off.”

Tony shook his head. “It’d be listed here. Everything else is. Mom and Dad’s watches, their rings… it’s all here except the necklace.”

“You want to talk to the coroner?” Rhodey asked.

“That’s the other thing,” Tony said, his mind starting to sharpen past the booze. He tapped the report. “That’s not the name of the county coroner. Or any of the local doctors. I don’t recognise it at all.”

Rhodey straightened. “So what do you want to do?”

******

“You know,” Rhodey said contemplatively as he boosted Tony over the wall surrounding the funeral home. “This wasn’t quite what I had in mind.”

“I need to see them,” Tony replied, pulling a piece of paper out of his pocket and pointing. “That way.”

They skirted around the building until they reached the back door. Tony had already disabled the security cameras and now he circumvented the security on the door just as easily. They tiptoed down the corridor until they came to the large room where the bodies were stored before the funerals. Tony looked around and saw his parents’ names on two of the mortuary cabinets and walked over. He came to an abrupt halt with one hand reaching out towards them.

“Platypus?” he said, his voice suddenly strained.

Rhodey placed a warm hand on his shoulder and nudged him aside. “I’ll do it.”

He reached out and opened the door with ‘Howard Stark’ written on it. Tony turned away a little as Rhodey pulled the stretcher inside out then he turned back just as quickly at the sound of Rhodey’s surprised curse.

“What?” He stepped forward and his eyes widened as he took in the… _mess_ that was his father’s face. Suddenly, the insistence on a closed casket funeral made sense. “Is that… normal… for a car accident?”

“I don’t know,” Rhodey replied. “But… I don’t think so, even if he’d hit his face on the steering wheel it wouldn’t do that much damage.”

Tony sucked up every ounce of courage he possessed and turned around and opened the door to where his mother’s body was. He pulled out the stretcher with a shaking hand and for a moment, he nearly lost it. Then he saw it.

“Rhodey,” he said, his voice shaking as he gripped his friend’s arm tight.

“I see it, Tones,” Rhodey said grimly.

Around Maria Stark’s neck, nicely mottled now that a couple of days had passed, was a ring of deep, dark bruises in a clear hand shape.

“Ain’t no way she got those in an accident,” Rhodey continued.

“Someone killed her,” Tony said faintly. 

They turned back to look at Howard’s body and now that they were looking at it with a clearer understanding, they could see the fist marks, indistinct but still there if you were looking, in Howard Stark’s face. There weren’t many of them due to the absolute mess his face had been turned into and if they hadn’t seen Maria Stark’s neck, they probably wouldn’t have recognised them for what they were.

“Someone killed both of them,” Rhodey said. “And covered it up.”

“They lied to me,” Tony said and now there was anger creeping into his voice. His eyes widened and his anger intensified. “ _Obie_ lied to me. He identified the bodies. He _can’t_ have missed this.”

Before Rhodey had a chance to say anything, Tony went _white_ and his knees buckled enough that Rhodey had to catch him and hold him up.

“Tones?” he said urgently, wondering what had shocked him so much.

Tony swallowed hard and leaned into Rhodey, resting his forehead on his shoulder briefly before standing upright again.

“Aunt Peggy went with Obie to identify the bodies,” he said, his voice utterly, horribly devoid of emotion.

Rhodey felt a lump grow in his throat. Tony always spoke about his Aunt Peggy with such love and fondness that this had to hurt badly.

“Maybe, uh…” He searched for a logical reason for their lies. “Maybe they’re going to tell you later?”

It sounded weak even to his own ears and from the sceptical look Tony shot him, the excuse didn’t sound any better to him.

“Yeah, right, never mind,” he said with a snort. “So, what do you want to do?”

For a moment, Tony looked lost then his expression hardened and a shiver went down Rhodey’s spine. He’d seen that look before but never on Tony’s face. He _had_ seen it on Howard’s face though and he’d hoped to never see Tony go down that road. But two people Tony trusted had lied to him and Tony was right. They needed to know why.

“We go back home,” Tony said grimly. “And I’ll play the grieving son and see what I can get out of them with a few tears and some questions about what happened.”

Rhodey was pretty sure Tony wasn’t going to have to ‘play’ the grieving son but he let that go. “What do you want me to do?”

“Watch them,” Tony said. “I’m not going to be able to keep an eye on them all the time and play the role. So you need to watch them. Watch their eyes in particular, Rhodey. They’re experienced in playing politics _and_ other games. Their expressions probably won’t tell you much…”

“But their eyes will,” Rhodey said with a nod. “Yeah, I’ve seen that in some officers. Don’t worry. I’ll watch carefully. What then?”

“That’ll depend on what we find out,” Tony said. “We’re gonna have to be careful though. I’m only seventeen. I can’t legally take control of the company until I’m twenty-one. The board told me that today, that it was a condition of Dad’s will. It may be a case of having to put up with it for now until I can do that.”

“You think you can do that?”

Tony stared at his shoes as he contemplated Rhodey’s question. Finally he raised his head and Rhodey’s heart broke at the bleak look on his face.

“I’m gonna have to, aren’t I?”

Rhodey gripped Tony’s shoulder. “I’ll be with you all the way.”


End file.
